The Blue Unicorn’s Journey To Osm Illustrated Book by Sybrina Durant

“Durant’s story is slyly whimsical as she builds up the world of Marbryn, a world where there are many wonders, but also threats to the existence of Blue’s tribe.” – Jack Magnus From Reader’s Favorite.

“The Blue Unicorn…reads like old time fairy tales…where life and death choices are made…” – From Fundinmental As The Eyes See It Blog

“The gentle reminders of the importance of acceptance and maintaining a sense of self worth are artfully woven into this fun adventure tale.” – From The Reading Addict Blog.

This YA book is perfect for fans of science fiction/fantasy books like Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey and The Xanth Series by Piers Anthony or illustrated fantasies like Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and The Wizard of Oz series of books by L. Frank Baum. Mix in some Brother’s Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale themes and you’re good to enter this enchanting world of the metal horn unicorn tribe.

Everybody loves unicorns! OK maybe they don’t but for those who do, they will love this fantastically illustrated story about a little unicorn who was born into a tribe of magical, metal horned unicorns. The little guy has no magic and he has no metal but somehow he must save the tribe from an evil sorcerer. Read this book for teens and older readers to find out if he can do it. This chapter book is a collector’s dream containing page after page of lavish artwork.

It contains nearly 100 pages of story text by Sybrina Durant plus the same number of pages of magnificent water-color illustrations by Dasguptarts. It offers readers a visual feast of over forty beautiful water-color pictures that each span two pages. Forty-two – easy to digest two-page chapters are chock full of adventurous and entertaining morsels. This illustrated book will become a favorite of teen and older fantasy readers.

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I came up with the idea for a tribe of metal horned unicorns 30 something years ago. I was interested in unicorns and the properties of different metals. What did you get when they burned? Beneficial products or medicines. What kind of magical attributes might come from different metal properties? There were no metal horned unicorns at the time so I started building my unicorn world.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
All of the characters have metal horns except for one. He is the plain blue unicorn. Everyone knows that if you don't have a metal horn you have no magic. The problem was he was the only one who could save the tribe! Could he do it? Maybe, with the help of the brass horned unicorn whose horn is bell shaped like the flared end of a trumpet and Dr. Zinko, the magical medical unicorn and all the others.

Book Sample
“Sure Blue sighed,” lowering his head sadly. “The tribe is all together except for me. What is wrong with me? Why didn’t I just get out from under these bushes and join them? Why do I feel like I don’t belong? Oh yeah…no metal, no magic. That’s why."

He sulked quietly, twitching his tail slowly back and forth, completely oblivious to the tiny insect on the ground.

“How rrr-ru-uuuu-de,” the angry buzzy-biter cried in disbelief. He could not believe he had been batted to the ground after having mercy on the unicorn. The big beast’s hostile act was quite unexpected. It had invaded his home territory and now appeared to be initiating war.

No more mercy!

He shot up to the unicorn’s ear yelling, “This is my bush, you big jerk! You’ve got to go!”

Blue turned his head to see that the angry critter was back. He seemed to be raging at him again but all he heard was, "B-u-z-z-z-z-y b-i-t-e-r, b-u-z-z-z-z-y b-i-t-e-r!"

"Oh no!" Blue panicked upon hearing that war-cry sound. He turned his head to see the bug was making a bee-line for his backside. He flung his tail frantically back and forth across his unprotected rump. More hairs clung to the sticky jughead nectar with every swipe.

The buzzy-biter zigged and zagged, neatly avoiding each tail swish. “You’re not going to get me again with that thing,” the irate bug retorted. “You want war? You got it.”

Still, all Blue heard was "Buzzy-biter-buzzy-biter-buzzy-biter," as the insect’s gaze zeroed in on the center point of two long blue hairs glued to the unicorn’s rear-end. X marked the buzzy-biter’s spot.

Blue uttered a quiet “yeow” when he felt the needle’s sting. It was all he could do to choke back a loud yelp.

Despite the painful sting, the thought of drawing Cornum’s attention was enough to stop Blue from crying out. The pain was quickly becoming unbearable.

Blue twisted his head around to see that the buzzy-biter was still attached to his flesh. Its barbed stinger had penetrated all the way through his hide. Its hook was sticking out the other side.

“I’m stuck. I’m stuck. I’m stuck,” the buzzy-biter yelped. That was not supposed to happen. “I must break free!” the buzzy-biter screamed.

Its wings batted violently against the air as it tried to escape, but the link between the hook and its body acted like a powerful spring. The bug’s body snapped back viciously against Blue’s rump, injecting even more venom into the unicorn.

On the fifth try, the buzzy-biter finally broke free but its hook-shaped stinger stayed behind.